Shannon Shorr Nabs Photo Finish Victory At U.S. Poker Open

Coming into the final table of the 2025 U.S. Poker Open’s $25,000 series finale, two players were remaining who could seize the USPO series championship away from Matthew Wantman with an outright victory: Shannon Shorr and Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero. If any of the other five players present were to come out on top, Wantman’s lead heading into the last event would hold.

Instead, the two players found themselves heads up, leaving Wantman as the bridesmaid in the race for player of the series. Shorr emerged victorious in the end, earning $529,250.

The 39-year-old also took down a $10,000 buy-in a few days earlier for $220,400, bringing his total haul for the series to $749,650, the most of any player. The two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner ended the festival with more than $16.4 million in lifetime tournament earnings.

“To win a tournament, I always say you have to run good, which I did, but I’m feeling pretty dialed in. I’ve been working really hard on my mental game,” Shorr told PokerGO commentator Jeff Platt.

The Alabama native finished with 538 PokerGO Tour points, topping Wantman’s series haul by just 26 points to secure the $25,000 PGT passport and the Golden Eagle trophy.

“This is awesome,” said Shorr of the sizable trophy. “I can’t wait to show it to my kids.”

This was Shorr’s fifth title and eighth final-table finish of 2025, including his recent WSOP Circuit main event triumph. (pg. XX) The 588 Card Player Player of the Year points he earned for this latest victory were enough to move him into first place in the POY standings, with total 3,990 points and nearly $1.9 million in to-date POY earnings. He now leads second-ranked Jeremy Ausmus by 110 points.

Let’s take a look back at how this year’s USPO played out.

Another PGT Win For Kristen Foxen

This year’s schedule featured eight no-limit hold’em events in total, featuring a $5,000 kick off tournament won by none other than Kristen Foxen. This was her fifth PGT title in total and third of 2025, having also taken down an event at the PGT Kickoff series and the PokerGO Cup.

The 38-year-old Canadian picked up $158,025 for topping the field of 129 entries. The five-time bracelet winner (another women’s record) now has nearly $11.6 million in lifetime cashes to her name, which gives her roughly a $650,000 lead over second-ranked Vanessa Selbst $10.9 million on the women’s all-time tournament earnings leaderboard.

With four overall final tables on the live tournament circuit so far in 2025, Foxen also moved into 15th place on the POY leaderboard. This latest victory added 528 points, bringing her total to 2,194. She also now sits in fourth place in the season-long PGT standings.

Event no. 2 was won by Kazuomi Furuse. The Japanese newcomer to the high-stakes scene captured his first live poker tournament title in style, overcoming 108 entries and a stacked final table in the $10,000 no-limit hold’em to earn a career-best score of $275,400. Barbero finished as the runner-up for $172,800, kickstarting his impressive campaign.

Before the win, Furuse’s top payday was a fourth-place finish in a $10,000 high roller at last year’s Wynn Summer Classic for $80,750. The Tokyo resident now has $504,091 in overall cashes to his name.

Event no. 3 featured another first-time champion. Michael Rossitto locked up his inaugural victory in a PGT event as the last player standing from a field of 109 entries in the $10,000 buy-in event. The poker professional based out of Las Vegas took home $277,950 for the win, the third-largest score of his career. His overall earnings now sit at $4.3 million.

Matthew Wantman made a final-table appearance but bowed out in sixth place for $54,500. He didn’t have to wait long for another shot at glory, however. The very next tournament, he returned to the final table and this time around was able to close out the win. He bested a field of 103 entries to get his hands on the trophy and the top prize of $231,300.

This was the fifth-largest score of Wantman’s 376 recorded cashes. The Massachusetts native now has more than $8.6 million in career earnings. His largest payday remains the $443,475 he earned as the champion of the 2019 WPT Aria Summer Championship.

The back-to-back deep runs for Wantman were enough to move him into the lead in the USPO points race heading into the second half of the series.

Hero Fold Propels Shorr To Victory

Shannon Shorr made a huge laydown at the final table event no. 5, the final $10,000 buy-in of the series. The Alabama native got away from trip nines with a seven kicker when he was up against Yifu He’s trip nines with a better kicker. Shorr’s hero fold propelled him forward en route to securing $220,400 and the title.

Shorr went on to defeat Eric Blair heads-up for the title. Blair took home $144,400 as the runner-up, adding to one of the best years of his career. Not only did Blair score two wins earlier this year at the PokerGO Cup, but he almost managed to cash in each of the first five USPO events. He would go on to cash once more in the $25,000 finale, bringing his total for the week to nearly $400,000.

Brandon Wilson recorded his first six-figure live poker tournament score in the spring of 2023, finishing third in a $10,000 event at that year’s USPO for $111,600. Since then, the rising high-stakes star from Illinois has cashed for $5.7 million on the circuit, adding 14 more six-figure paydays.

Wilson’s latest triumph came at this year’s USPO, where he defeated a field of 98 entries in the first of two $15,000 no-limit hold’em events on the schedule. He earned $382,200 for topping the largest PokerGO Studio field for this price point.This was Wilson’s third title and eighth final table of 2025. He received 648 POY points to increase his haul to 3,648, which is good for third place in the overall standings.

Meanwhile, Wantman moved right back to the top of the series leaderboard thanks to a runner-up finish for $242,550. This was his third and final cash of the series, with three final-table finishes totaling $528,350 in earnings.

Foxen Family Scores A Second Trophy

This festival turned out to be a particularly profitable one for the Foxen family. After Kristen Foxen hoisted a USPO trophy earlier in the series, her husband and fellow high-stakes pro Alex Foxen took home a title of his own. He topped an 81-entry field in a $15,100 no-limit hold’em event to net $340,200.

The victory was the 30th of Foxen’s career, which includes three WSOP bracelets and now nine PokerGO Tour titles. He sits in 15th place on poker’s all-time money list.

The win came just a day after he finished fifth in the previous $15,000 event for $102,900. Between Kristen’s win in the series’ first event for $158,025 and Alex’s pair of final tables, poker’s predominant power couple took home north of $600,000 this series.

For the last eight years, Alex has finished in the top 20 of the Card Player Player of the Year race. In fact, from 2018-2024, the 34-year-old finished no worse than ninth. He’s on pace for another solid finish, sitting in fourth place for the time being.

Shorr Comes Up Clutch With Buzzer-Beating Win In Finale

The series-ending $25,000 buy-in event drew 73 entries, resulting in a $1,825,000 prize pool. The top 11 finishers made the money in this event, earning at least $54,750. The final day began with Barbero out in front and Shorr in third chip position, with both of those players needing to finish first in order to steal away the series championship from Wantman.

Shorr took the lead and then extended it heading into three-handed play, taking out Nick Petrangelo in fourth place. Petrangelo surpassed $40.1 million in career cashes with his $173,375 payday.

The final three fought it out for nearly three hours before the next knockout blow landed. Landon Tice opted to call off his stack with second pair, only to be shown that Barbero had two pair. Tice earned $246,375 for his podium showing, the second-largest score of his career.

Heads-up began with virtually even stacks. The early action favored the Argentinian, but a bluff attempt that ran into Shorr’s deuces full of jacks saw his lead disappear and then some. On the final hand, Barbero called it off with ace high, only to see that Shorr had flopped two pair.

Barbero earned $346,750 as the runner-up. He ultimately ended up in third place in the series points race, with three cashes totaling $540,150. The bracelet winner from Buenos Aires now has more than $23.1 million in lifetime earnings under his belt.